CHINA-FREE PRODUCTS: How Not To Invest In CHINA

CHINA-FREE

DEFINITION chi-na-free adj. A term proposed for use on food labels to show that products are not made in China.

CONTEXT In light of recent health and safety scares regarding Chinese-made food and products, a U.S.-based company called Food for Health International has announced plans to put "China-free" stickers on its goods. The subtext: These products won't make you sick or have harmful contaminants like melamine.

USAGE Given recent recalls of items from toys to toothpaste, China-free labeling could catch on, though consumers would do well to remember that not all products from China are tainted and not all tainted products are from China.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

How Not To Invest In CHINA

China's economy is expanding at the fastest pace in more than a decade. It seems at first like an opportunity not to be wasted, and anyone who has owned Chinese shares during the past two years has a lot to show for it. But one veteran manager of Asian portfolios warns that investors buying China today may be wasting money.
Investors in China are anticipating a lot, said Mark Headley, president of Matthews International Capital, a San Francisco firm specializing in Asia. What they hope for almost certainly is more than corporate China will be able to deliver.
"Shares are very expensive," he said. "There's wild, bullish sentiment practically everywhere in the Chinese realm. It's all going to end badly. It usually does."
Two developments may hasten the demise. One is ...